The road to hell
by Oliversgurl
Summary: Its been years since they became heroes. Marinette and Adrien have graduated and she's gotten over her silly little crush. Ladybug finally tells Chat all about it an the results are disastrous.
1. Chapter 1

Chat Noir swung his legs back and forth and he relaxed on a buttress with Ladybug. "You know," he leaned back and glanced at her from the side, "You once told me you had a crush on a boy in your class, but you wouldn't tell me because it might give your identity away."

Ladybug hummed thoughtfully and laughed. "That was such a long time ago. Its been a few years since then." She cocked her head at him, "I've gotten over it. It was many years ago, and a silly crush, after all."

His heart leaped in his chest and he wondered if that meant that maybe, just maybe, his Lady would be free to fall in love with _him_? "So tell me!" He wheedled.

She shrugged, "If it means that much to you. We've graduated so I have no idea what he's doing now. His name was Adrien."

Chat froze and then tried to relax. "This Adrien got a last name?"

"Now _that_ ," she teased him, "Would be telling. Besides, it doesn't matter, like I said. I'm way over him now."

Chat felt the world fall out from under him and he swayed, "You know… I gotta go, My Lady." He kissed her hand with a flourish, "If I'm not home it time it will be a total cat-tastrophe."

He watched her sigh and roll her eyes as he leaped backwards and took off. _His lady was Marinette_. It all made sense. Everything fell into place. The way she reacted to him as Adrien, the clarity of her feelings for Chat.

She didn't love him.

The feelings of despair and anguish overwhelmed him and he finally collapsed onto his bed and wept like a broken hearted child.

He didn't notice when the akuma fluttered into his room and landed on his ring. As he lay on the bed a prickling, peculiar sort of scratching feeling came from inside his mind and he heard a voice, "Oh, Chat Blanc. This _is_ a surprise. This is Hawkmoth, but I'm sure you already knew that. Your lady love doesn't love you? Well. Get me her Miraculous, and deliver yours to me afterwards and I can _make_ her love you. Understood?"

His suit shimmered and turned white. He lifted his head off of the bed with a grin. " _Understood_."

He made a nuisance of himself around town, until he heard feet hit the dirt in front of where he had sat himself on a park bench. "Finally decided to show up, hmm?"

"Chat Noir, what are you doing?" She demanded of him, like she had the right.

He opened his eyes and looked her up and down, leering. "Waiting on you, My Lady."

"Chat, I-"

He cut her off. "Its Chat Blanc now, Ladybug. Or should I call you by your real name?" He laughed when she gasped in horror. "Surprised? After you gave me the boy's name it was easy to put two and two together. I wonder how he's doing," he mused, seemingly absently as he watched for her reaction.

"You stay away from him." She squared herself.

"What's this?" He said with a mocking laugh, "You sound almost like you care. Maybe if you did. he wouldn't be in the mess he's in _right now_."

Her eyes suddenly widened. " _No_." She whispered in a strangled voice.

" _Yes._ " He said viciously, and leaped backwards. "Catch me if you can, Ladybug!" And he took off. He led her on quite the chase before she finally managed to trip him up with her yo-yo string. He struggled to be free of it before she _actually_ caught up.

"Chat." She said softly. "Stay where you are."

"You don't control me, Ladybug." He snarled, still struggling. "You've lost any chance of influencing me. I'm going to take your miraculous and mine to _him_."

"No, Chat. You're not." She reached for his ring.

He _hissed_ and slipped free before she could grab it and used his pole to flip away from her again. "I _will_ and then he will give me the power to make you love me, like I love you."

Her eyes brimmed with sympathy and that made the rage in him grow all the more wild and he took off for the Eiffel tower. He would exhaust her. She couldn't keep up with him in there. He heard her say "Lucky Charm!" behind him and he laughed. It was all just a matter of time now. He sped up.

Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

After a fight that was ultimately fruitless and ended with him pinned to the ground spouting innuendo, she had his _ring_ off and crushed beneath her foot. Everything after that was a whirlwind blur. He was Adrien. He was Chat. He was lost.

He could feel her watching him as the suit crept back over him as she restored everything back to the way it was. The way it was supposed to be. He knew what he'd done was wrong, but he ached to find out if Hawkmoth could keep true to his word.

Was it worth it?

"We need to talk." She said to him.

No. No they didn't. But his mouth said, "Yes. We do."

"I'm sorry." She said to him.

He shook his head. "I'm not blaming you." But he was. "This isn't your fault." Lies. "You can't force feelings." Hawkmoth said he could. "I opened myself up to the Akuma. Its my fault."

"Oh, Chat," She reached for him but dropped her hand halfway and a bitter tide of feelings rushed up to fill him.

"Don't pity me." He jerked away from her.

She was silent. Then, "I have to go."

He laughed. "I know who you are _Marinette_." He sighed. "It doesn't matter here. We're too high for anyone to see."

She nodded and he watched the suit melt away to reveal Marinette and how he _ached_ to reach for her.

"I'm sorry that I never noticed." He said.

"Its not your fault either, Adrien. I didn't know that you were-"

"Are." He interrupted with a pained growl as his suit finally dissolved. "I wish I had known sooner. I was pushing everyone away because I didn't know you were her." He clenched his teeth to stop the tears.

"I'm sorry," She said again.

"Forget it. I'm going home." He reached into his pocket for a crushed box of cheese to feed Plagg before he transformed back and left her standing there.

But he did not go home.

He needed privacy.

He was going to make a deal.


	2. Chapter 2

"Uh, This really isn't a good idea."

"Plagg?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." Adrien took a deep breath and look up at the sky. "I know you can hear me, Hawkmoth. You don't need to akumatize me. I want to make a deal. Let me take this anger and use it."

He waited.

After a few tense minutes he kicked the dirt with his shoe and ran his hands through his hair. "Ugh, nevermind. It's stupid anyway. What am i thinking, make a deal." He sat down on the park bench and put his head in his hands.

"Love can make people do stupid things. Just because you've done something dumb, that doesn't mean you can't make it up to her later." Plagg said from his left ear. Then, "Uh oh."

"Adrien?!"

He looked up to see his father standing before him. Gabriel Agreste dressed as he always did and wore a puzzled frown as he looked down at his son. "Yes, father?"

"You've been missing for a day and a half now. We looked everywhere for you, where were you?" His father clasped his hands behind his back and waited.

"Sorry, Father." Adrien sighed. "I was over at a friend's house."

"Not that Nino boy, I hope." His father's frown grew more pronounced. "He said you weren't there."

"No, no," Andrien shook his head, "Marinette. She was helping me with some history homework and it got late so she let me sleep on her couch."

"Marinette," His father mused, "Is that the girl who won the design contest when you were in tenth grade? I would very much like to meet her in person, I wasn't aware that you two were still taking University classes together. Why don't you invite her over?"

"You want to meet Marinette?" Adrien laughed and tried to make the sound appear casual, while inside he panicked and tried to think of some excuse, "It's the weekend, she's probably really busy helping her parents out at their bakery."

"Nonsense. If she wants to get ahead in the fashion designer world, then she needs a little one on one instruction." Gabriel, for the first time in years, smiled at his son and Adrien tried not to shiver as the smile did not reach his father's eyes.

The trip in the limo was spent in silent agony for Adrien as he spoke only to direct them to Marinette's home and bakery. When they pulled in front and the gorilla-like driver stopped the vehicle, Adrien almost sprang from the backseat. "I'll just go get her, right?"

"Nonsense," His father replied, "We'll go in together."

Adrien's heart sank to his knees as he pasted on a huge smile, "Great, let's go."

The doorbell jingled and Marinette sat behind a counter with a sketchbook in her hand and a pencil in the other, with an erasil (a pencil shaped eraser) behind her ear. Adrien watched her for a moment with a rather silly look on his face before he remembered what they were there for and cleared his throat. "Hey, Marinette."

She looked up from the sketchpad a look of longing and wariness flickering across her features, too fast for Adrien to be sure he even saw it, before she smiled brightly at the two of them. "And what can I do for you two?"

"I know I was just over to study not that long ago," he said, "But I saw Father in the park after I left and he was so worried that he'd come looking for me." He stopped and rolled his eyes, playing his part, "I told him that I was with you the whole time and he wanted to bring you over to the house for some one on one fashion design."

Shye blinked her glorious eyes at the two of them, " _Really_ Mr. Agreste?" She laughed. "I know you thought my hat was good, but a personal tutorial from you?"

He nodded at her, "Yes, Ms. Marinette. My son has talked about your designs before and I know you're very good, but you could use a little… push to bring out your _true_ potential."

Adrien watched as his father stepped forward in front of him and Adrien dropped his smile and shook his head. He didn't know what was wrong with his father but nothing about this whole scenario felt right and he didn't want her involved in this.

He watched her eyes follow him and narrow a bit. "True potential, Mr Agreste? I think one on one guidance would put me way ahead of my university mates. I'd like to become the best i can while on equal footing with everyone."

He stepped even closer to her. "Are you sure? You could become the greatest is all of Paris with my help. You just have to reach out and accept it."

"Why are you so concerned now, Mr. Agreste?" She slipped off of the barstool she had been sitting on.

"My son's been spending an awful lot of time with you. I just want to see someone he so obviously cares for get ahead and be worthy of him."

Adrien watched the flush creep up her neck, "I'm sorry, sir. I'd like to be worthy of him and his friendship by doing this honestly."

Mr. Agreste stopped his advance on her and with a soft chuckle, "You would, wouldn't you? Honesty. I'm sure that's why my son likes you so much." He stopped laughing, "Still. I insist that you come for a visit. For dinner, if nothing else."

"There's another Miraculous nearby." Plagg whispered into Adrien's ear, low enough to keep Mr. Agreste from hearing.

Adrien rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I know." He whispered back, Marinette always had her earrings in.

"No," Plagg said in a deadly serious tone that made the hair on the back of Adrien's neck stand up. "This is the Butterfly Miraculous."

Adrien froze and resisted the very Chat urge to puff his chest out and _hiss_. "Where?" Though he had a feeling he already knew where it was and he started to tremble when Plagg pointed at his father.


	3. Chapter 3

The trip in the car was awkward and upsetting for Adrien as he watched his father and Marinette make small talk the entire way. The revelation that Plagg had dropped on him burned in the back of his mind.

Nooroo.

That was the butterfly Kwami's name according to Plagg.

Adrien wondered where Nooroo was kept when his father was not transformed and then shook his head, knowing it was useless to think of that.

"You know, Marinette," His father said casually, "Those earrings of yours are exquisite. May I see them?"

Marinette laughed and bless her, she put her hand to one ear. "Sorry, Mr. Agreste. They're just something I made. A bit of cheap glass and some posts I ordered online." She smiled at him, much more confident than usual, "Thank you though."

"You _made_ them?" He exclaimed, a look of astonishment on his face, "Out of glass? My dear what you would be able to do with _proper_ materials."

The rest of the conversations went more or less similar and Adrien was going to tear his hair out if the car did not get them home in a reasonable amount of time.

Soon enough though, they arrived at the gates and he led Marinette up the stairs, still chatting at her like the suave business man that he was and Adrien started inching around to take off and transform when his Father's voice stopped him.

"Why don't you show Marinette the Atrium and your mother's painting? I'll be along in a little while." Gabriel Agreste nodded at the two of them and strode out of the room.

Adrien stood awkwardly for a moment before he grabbed Marinette's wrist in his and drug her to his room instead of the Atrium and closed the door.

"Adrien, I-" She started.

"We don't have time for that. Father is the Papillon." He stared into her eyes, willing her to believe him.

"He's right, Marinette." Tikki spoke up from her purse. "I could feel the butterfly Miraculous when he stepped into the shop."

Plagg floated up from Adrien's shirt, "I'm sorry i didn't sense it before. We could have ended this a long time ago if I had."

"Its ok," Tikki smiled, "We know now, and now we can fix this."

"We need to go to the Atrium, that's where he's expecting us and we can do something about this," Adrien went to tug her along and then stopped, searching her face. "You can explain what has you feeling guilty _later_ , Marinette."

She nodded and they went into the Atrium. He turned to face the painting on the wall and Marinette stepped up and he saw her reach a hand out, but she brought it back before she touched the painting. "Your mom?"

"Yeah," He smiled and sighed, "She's been gone for so long. I wish there was a way to bring her back."

Marinette turned her head to look at him, "You have her smile," She said. "Look. Adrien. I'm sorry for what I said the other day. I didn't get the chance to finish."

He took a step back when she leaned in closer to him and whispered, "I didn't know he was you. I-"

"She was a great beauty, was she not?" Gabriel Agreste's voice cut across the room and the two jumped guiltily apart.

"She's amazing," Marinette answered with a strained smile.

"I'm… glad you think so. Adrien, would you come with me a moment?" Gabriel held the door open.

Adrien felt his heart sink into his knees and he nodded, "Sure, Father. What do you need?"

"I'm trying to pick something out from the collection for your ladyfriend to study. You know her very well, so you can be of help to me." His father raised his eyebrows, "Shall we?"

Adrien swallowed a lump and brushed his lips against Marinette's cheek before he followed his father from the room. The door closed and clicked locked behind him and he turned to stare at the door before he looked up at his father.

"Adrien," The sound of his name was at once weary and hopeful on his father's lips. But what he said next, rooted Adrien to the floor. "I know you have the black cat Miraculous. Give it to me. I know that you're Chat Noir."

And he felt the world crumbling beneath his feet.


End file.
